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Abstract

Abstract. In this paper we describe a language-driven approach to the development of videogames. In our approach the development process starts with the design of a suitable domain-specific language for building games, along with an abstract syntax for the language and its operational semantics. Next an engine supporting the language is built. Finally games are built using the customized language and they are executed using the engine. This approach is exemplified with the <e-Game> project, which delivers the design of a language and the construction of an engine for the documental development of graphical adventure videogames with educational purposes. 1.

Citations

...rational semantics for the <e-Game> language is specified using the style of structural operational semantics, a common method of specifying the operational semantics of artificial computer languages =-=[19, 22]-=-. In Fig 4 we show some of the semantic rules for the <e-Game> language that formalize the behaviour associated with conversations. In such rules, expressions of the form ′Φ are used to introduce both...

...e and maintenance has also been faced with Language-driven approaches [4, 16]. The specific focus of these approaches is to promote the explicit design and implementation of domain-specific languages =-=[25]-=- as a key feature of the development process. For each application domain a suitable language is designed and an interpreter or compiler for such a language is constructed. Being domainspecific, the l...

...-touse, but also more limited, authoring systems to be used by non programmers (e.g. Game Maker [21]), to scripting solutions based on either general-purpose scripting languages (e.g. LUA [11] or TCL =-=[20]-=-) or on languages specially tailored to specific videogames. This search for a good balance between expressive power and simplicity of use and maintenance has also been faced with Language-driven appr...

...10]) to easy-touse, but also more limited, authoring systems to be used by non programmers (e.g. Game Maker [21]), to scripting solutions based on either general-purpose scripting languages (e.g. LUA =-=[11]-=- or TCL [20]) or on languages specially tailored to specific videogames. This search for a good balance between expressive power and simplicity of use and maintenance has also been faced with Language...

...he costs associated with language-driven approaches can be amortized in domains where a whole application family (i.e. a set of variants of a single application model) must be produced and maintained =-=[7]-=-. Application families are very frequent in the domain of videogames, where it is possible to distinguish many genres of games, each of them including many common traits that can be abstracted in the ...

... of this language. 3.3. The <e-Game> language as a descriptive markup language for game storyboards. We have customized the <e-Game> abstract language to yield a XML-based descriptive markup language =-=[3, 6]-=- that can be used to directly mark up the game storyboards. This customization facilitates the production and maintenance of the graphic adventure videogames for game writers. Indeed, being descriptiv...

...rational semantics for the <e-Game> language is specified using the style of structural operational semantics, a common method of specifying the operational semantics of artificial computer languages =-=[19, 22]-=-. In Fig 4 we show some of the semantic rules for the <e-Game> language that formalize the behaviour associated with conversations. In such rules, expressions of the form ′Φ are used to introduce both...

...e and the engine independent from the format finally used during authoring, and therefore facilitates reusing the language in different scenarios by defining suitable concrete (textual or even visual =-=[14]-=-) syntaxes. Finally, for reasonably narrow genres (e.g. the domain of graphic adventures addressed) the resulting languages are usually simple and declarative, which induces simpler abstract syntaxes....

...xperts and developers. During language design, experts must collaborate in order to let developers formulate the right language. For this purpose, developers can use wellknown domain analysis methods =-=[2]-=- tailored to the particular domain of videogames. In addition, narrowing the game genre and using rapid prototyping based on the language’s operational semantics can help in harmonizing this collabora...

... games, each of them including many common traits that can be abstracted in the design of a domain-specific language or tool. A good example of uniformity is the genre of graphic adventure videogames =-=[13]-=-. In fact, the <e-Game> project provides languagedriven methods, techniques and tools for facilitating the production and maintenance of graphical adventure videogames to be applied in education. In t...

...he design of a language and the construction of an engine for the documental development of graphical adventure videogames with educational purposes. 1. Introduction There are fields like edutainment =-=[12]-=-, casual gaming [17] or propaganda [26], where rapid development of simple games is required. This development is usually carried out using languages and/or tools specifically tailored to the videogam...

...lso knowledge-demanding, special-purpose programming languages (e.g. DIV [8] and DarkBasic [10]) to easy-touse, but also more limited, authoring systems to be used by non programmers (e.g. Game Maker =-=[21]-=-), to scripting solutions based on either general-purpose scripting languages (e.g. LUA [11] or TCL [20]) or on languages specially tailored to specific videogames. This search for a good balance betw...

...be thought of as the information model representing the data of each sentence in the language that is relevant to the subsequent processing (i.e. translation and/or interpretation) of such a sentence =-=[9]-=-. The focus on abstract syntax when designing a domain-specific language simplifies the other design steps and the implementation activity, since the emphasis is put on processing structured data inst...

... languages specially tailored to specific videogames. This search for a good balance between expressive power and simplicity of use and maintenance has also been faced with Language-driven approaches =-=[4, 16]-=-. The specific focus of these approaches is to promote the explicit design and implementation of domain-specific languages [25] as a key feature of the development process. For each application domain...

... languages specially tailored to specific videogames. This search for a good balance between expressive power and simplicity of use and maintenance has also been faced with Language-driven approaches =-=[4, 16]-=-. The specific focus of these approaches is to promote the explicit design and implementation of domain-specific languages [25] as a key feature of the development process. For each application domain...

...opose in this paper encourages such an incremental strategy. Following our previous experiences with the document-oriented approach to the production and maintenance of content-intensive applications =-=[23, 24]-=-, we propose the three views shown in Fig 1 for the characterization of this approach. Next subsections give the details. (Final Draft)sLanguage-Driven Development of Videogames: The <e-Game> Experien...

...ools specifically tailored to the videogame domain. These languages and tools range from very powerful, but also knowledge-demanding, special-purpose programming languages (e.g. DIV [8] and DarkBasic =-=[10]-=-) to easy-touse, but also more limited, authoring systems to be used by non programmers (e.g. Game Maker [21]), to scripting solutions based on either general-purpose scripting languages (e.g. LUA [11...

...ose alluded to in [25]. 3. The <e-Game> Project <e-Game> is a project oriented to the provision of means for the authoring and the deployment of graphic adventure videogames with educational purposes =-=[15, 18]-=-. This project was conducted under the language-driven directives described in the previous section. In this section we detail the consecution of the project in terms of the products yielded by such a...

...ose alluded to in [25]. 3. The <e-Game> Project <e-Game> is a project oriented to the provision of means for the authoring and the deployment of graphic adventure videogames with educational purposes =-=[15, 18]-=-. This project was conducted under the language-driven directives described in the previous section. In this section we detail the consecution of the project in terms of the products yielded by such a...

...opose in this paper encourages such an incremental strategy. Following our previous experiences with the document-oriented approach to the production and maintenance of content-intensive applications =-=[23, 24]-=-, we propose the three views shown in Fig 1 for the characterization of this approach. Next subsections give the details. (Final Draft)sLanguage-Driven Development of Videogames: The <e-Game> Experien...

...age and the construction of an engine for the documental development of graphical adventure videogames with educational purposes. 1. Introduction There are fields like edutainment [12], casual gaming =-=[17]-=- or propaganda [26], where rapid development of simple games is required. This development is usually carried out using languages and/or tools specifically tailored to the videogame domain. These lang...

...ction of an engine for the documental development of graphical adventure videogames with educational purposes. 1. Introduction There are fields like edutainment [12], casual gaming [17] or propaganda =-=[26]-=-, where rapid development of simple games is required. This development is usually carried out using languages and/or tools specifically tailored to the videogame domain. These languages and tools ran...